Hills Softball Association ‘A’ Grade Women (Strathalbyn v Hills Masters)

It had been a while since these two teams met so they were looking forward to Saturday night's match. Hills Masters batted first but were unable to score with Crystal Karayiannis & Tianhna Mayes making great plays to first base, and Tessa Norris pitching the first of five strikeouts for the match. Strathalbyn came up to bat and started on fire, scoring seven runs in their first innings with Buttsy Milne and Tessa Norris both scoring runs with singles to the outfield. The Masters team is never to be written off as evidenced with Kerry Wilkinson hitting a single to start their batting, followed by hits from Mis O’Keefe and Kylie Barrington leading to Wilkinson scoring the Masters first run of the night. 

Strathalbyn were unable to add to their score with their second attempt in the batting box, leaving the score at 7-1 going into the third innings. Crystal took two good catches at shortstop and another strike out by Norris meant Hills Masters didn’t add any more runs. Strath added two runs through singles to Emily Eglitis and Sasha Penglase bringing the score to 9-1 going into the fourth dig. Masters hit their straps in the final two innings of the night managing another six runs, however it was all too late as the Panthers were able to bring in another two runs after a great three-base hit from Buttsy Milne to see the Panthers win 11-7. It was a wonderful pitching display by both Tessa Norris for Strath and Kelly O’Brien for the Masters. It was a good game played in great spirit. 

Hills Softball Association ‘B/C’ Grade Women (Strathalbyn C v Pirates B)

Strathalbyn were up to bat first against Pirates and had a safe hit to Stacey Jamieson before two K2’s to pitcher/catcher combo of Jordana Wilks to Taminka Wilks and an out at first ended the innings. Pirates came in to bat in their first dig and had safe hits to multiple players which pushed players around the diamond to bring in seven runs with Strath’s fielders working hard making an out at first by pitcher Rebecca Sims fielding and throwing to Amy Roker, a catch taken at centrefield by Jamieson and a catch taken at leftfield by Heidi Samuel.

Searching for runs, Samuel had a safe hit to the outfield for Strath followed by a safe hit to Rebekah Mayes which forced the first out at second and that was quickly followed by two K2’s to send them from the diamond. Strath was still working hard in the field with a catch taken at third by Jess Rumble, quick fielding by catcher Mayes throwing to Roker and another out at first ended Pirates second innings with only two runs brought in.

Again Strath were looking for runs in their third turn at bat with Coach Kelly Roe wanting the players to focus on swinging and had safe hits to Jamieson and Rumble with Pirates pitching too well for another K2, a catch taken at leftfield by Wendy Pope and an out at second ending the innings without adding any runs. The third batting dig for Pirates produced eight runs with safe hits to players including Margie Cammell and Michelle Stewart and a three baser to Krista Elliot before a catch taken by catcher Mayes, another catch in the outfield by Jamieson and an out at third ended the innings.

The fourth dig for Strath looked much the same with a walk gained by Annabel McGregor before an out at first and another two K2’s sent them from the diamond scoreless. Strath managed to hold Pirates to just one run in their fourth turn at bat with catches to Jamieson and McGregor and an out at third ending the innings.

Strath had safe hits to Jamieson, Rumble and Sims in their fifth batting dig but with two outs at first and a K2 they were unable to bring any runners home. Strath stuck with it and worked really hard in the field to hold Pirates to just two further runs with an out at first, a batter batting out of order and an out at home the last out to end the innings and the game. Final scores were Pirates 20 to Strathalbyn 0 with the score not really reflecting the hard-fought game.